MATH:108:02               Introduction to Statistics            Spring, 2012 

                              Syllabus

  Instructor:   Kenneth Brakke
  Office:       308 Fisher Hall
  Office phone: 4466
  Email: brakke@susqu.edu
         I will use email to communicate with the class outside of meeting 
         times, e.g. for homework corrections, hints, etc.  So check your 
         email regularly.  When emailing me, be sure to use a good subject 
         line.  Blank subjects, and generic subjects like "question" and "help"
         are liable to get eaten by our spam filter.  Use a subject like
         "Intro Stat homework question".

  Office hours: 2:00-3:00 MWF, 1:00-3:00 TTh, or by appointment.  You may drop 
      in anytime I am in my office, which is usually 8:30-5:00 everyday, except
      for lunch and my other classes  10:00-11:05 MWF and 3:00-4:05 MWF.

  Text: Introductory Statistics by Neil A. Weiss, 9th edition.
  

  Purpose: To learn basic statistics.  The three main parts of statistics are
           1. Descriptive statistics - summarizing and organizing data; 
              histograms, averages, variance,  percentiles, etc.
           2. Probability - predicting the properties of a random sample from a
              known population. Probability rules, expected values, standard 
              deviation, conditional probability, Bayes' Theorem.
           3. Statistical inference - inferring the properties of a population 
              from data about a randomly chosen sample.  Sampling, significance,
              p-values, hypothesis testing, linear regression.

  Grading:  
             3 Hour exams                50%
             Final exam                  25%
             Daily homework, quizzes     25%

             Your final letter grade will be based on your course average, with
             the A-B-C-D cutoffs around the traditional 90-80-70-60 marks, but
             I may adjust that as I see fit.

  Homework: There will be daily homework assignments, to be handed in at the 
            start of class.  Each assignment will be graded.  Assignments will 
            include exercises using the computer statistics program Minitab or 
            the spreadsheet program Excel.  There will also be short in-class 
            quizzes about every other class.

  General:

      Final exam: there will be a comprehensive final exam held in the
      official final exam period for this course.  Tell your family not to
      plan family vacations, weddings, rides home etc. until after finals.

      Roll will not be taken, but frequent absences will be noticed.
      You are still subject to the attendence policy in the Student
      Handbook.

      Policy on cheating: Don't.  Studying together to understand the
      material is fine, but the work you hand in is to be your own.
      See the Student Handbook statement on academic honesty.     
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  Central Curriculum Analytical Thought learning goals:

  1. Abstract a problem into a symbolic or mathematical model
     or framework.

     Typically, problems in probability and statistical inference 
     will be posed as word problems, and students will translate
     them into mathematical models.

  2. Interpret such a model or framework in terms of a real-
     world construct.

     For a word problem, after solving the relevant mathematical 
     problem, the mathematical result must be translated back
     into the terms of the original problem, in a form
     intelligible to an appropriate audience.
     
  3. Reason from precisely stated principles using deductive
     methods and draw valid conclusions.

     Each type of mathematical model or problem-solving technique has 
     specific prerequisites for its validity, and specific techniques 
     for valid solution.

  4. Recognize, manipulate and reason from or about abstract
     patterns.

     The abstract patterns involved here are centered around
     probability, randomness, sampling, error, and statistical
     inference.